Breaking the Ice: Echo Effect

By Opinion Editor Janet Guan & Sports Editor Ethan Yan

For Seniors Navya Chitlur and Semi Jung, the arts are much more than just a personal hobby — they’re an opportunity for self-expression and community. Founded in July by the pair, the Echo Effect is one of the only teen-led open mics in Fremont and a rare stage for local teens to share their artistry and unique individual voices.

Chitlur and Jung are both seasoned writers and bonded over a mutual love for the arts. After attending two creative writing summer programs together where they participated in open mics, they were inspired to create their own in Fremont. “[Open mics were a way] for people to express themselves, and we wanted to bring that sort of environment to the Bay Area and connect more writers who are more isolated in this area,” Chitlur said. 

For the duo, finding artists in the Bay Area who wanted to perform wasn’t difficult. “All the writers [here] are very tight-knit, you kind of know everyone,” Chitlur said. For their first open mic in July, Chitlur and Jung reached out to all the writers and artists they knew in the Bay Area, who in turn reached out to their friends. They also created an Instagram post under their account @echoeffectpandemic to publicize the opportunity. 

Although they quickly filled a list of performers, finding a suitable location was trickier. Chitlur and Jung originally hoped to host their first event at a larger venue, like Tamper Room and Milk and Honey. However, they found that doing so was near impossible with the limited time they had and high demand for the venues. So, the pair consulted a friend in Los Angeles who leads the Next Line Open Mic, who started her first open mic in her backyard. “I think I did have sort of a sinking feeling that a lack of interest might capsize the whole idea,” Jung said. “The thing about an open mic is you really only need three things to start one: a space, any one, a mic, and people.” The two finally settled on a backyard open mic as their first event. 

At the open mic, Chitlur and Jung broke the ice by sharing their poetry. “People don’t usually want to perform first, but we just put a list up, and people signed up to perform pretty quickly,” Chitlur said. The event saw a variety of performances, including poetry, prose pieces, singing, and guitar. Two bands, including Oddity Music, an indie rock band formed by MSJ students, also shared music of their own. Though the open mic event was originally planned to be an hour long, it went overtime due to the passion of the performers. “Performing was really fun. […] It was also really fun to listen to all the poetry and music by the other performers as well,” Senior Aravind Muralidharan, who performed violin at the event, said. 

Given the limited number of open mic opportunities available to Bay Area teens, Chitlur and Jung hope that their first event, and events to come, can encourage more teens to speak up and express themselves — whether it be with the Echo Effect or other open mics. “I still remember how that typical teenage awkwardness gave way to a kind of camaraderie that only comes from shared interests,” Jung said. Especially for teen artists like Muralidharan, performing with friends and for the community can be an invaluable experience. “Try to perform as much as you can because it’s really good to get experience performing and build some musician skills,” Muralidharan said. 

With their first open mic being a resounding success, Chitlur and Jung hope to expand their organization with more events before the end of fall. They also plan on collaborating with 2025 Alameda County Poet Laureate Anika Mangla. “We might open up applications to more people at the end of this year and expand our team,” Chitlur said. As an organization, the Echo Effect proves the value in sharing creativity with others with its small-scale but extraordinary opportunities. It serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for teen artists across the Bay Area.